I had to write and applaud your In Our Opinion (“A pothole in the road to Vision Zero” - 6/26) column from last week’s newspaper.

A couple of weeks ago I narrowly missed running over a middle-aged man on Fresh Pond Road. He strolled across the street in the middle of the block with his head completely turned in the opposite direction. As I slammed on my brakes bystanders yelled at him, but he seemed oblivious to how close he came to dying.

Driving in Manhattan on a regular basis, I am appalled at the way pedestrians take over the streets. They cross wherever they want to and go against the light in crosswalks. I particularly love the dirty looks they give me when I honk at them, as if I am the person doing something wrong. And they seem to have no concern for all the cars waiting at the intersection they are blocking.

I firmly believe that traffic would flow much better if the city could somehow correct this behavior, along with taxis that stop in the middle of the street to pick up fares, buses that don’t bother to pull into their bus stops, double parkers, and idiots that gridlock intersections.

Drivers would be much more calmer behind the wheel if they did not have to deal with these nuisances. A lot of people speed and drive aggressively because they are frustrated and trying to make up for lost time.

If our mayor is serious about reducing pedestrian injuries, he has to acknowledge the fact that in many instances it is their own fault.